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Dancer Keith Johnson and company to perform at St. Olaf tonight

By Lyndel Owens '10
October 26, 2007

Keith Johnson, professor of dance at California State University at Long Beach, will perform three pieces with six members from his company, "Keith Johnson/Dancers," tonight (Oct. 26) at 7:30 p.m. in Dittmann Center Studio 1. The event is free to people with a St. Olaf ID and $8 for the public.

Johnson has received numerous awards and reviews commending his choreography and teaching style. As a guest teacher he has traveled widely and instructed at many institutions, including The Julliard School, Dartmouth College and LaSalle College of the arts in Singapore.

Dance Department Chair Janice Roberts, who has worked with Johnson, looks forward to the event. "His work is innovative and will push the audience to really be involved," she says.

For his first piece, "Brink," Johnson drew from conditions he experienced as a competitive gymnast in college. "I wanted to explore the idea of when the slightest mistake has repercussions," he says. "The idea of how frail humans are that live at that high level where everything matters."

"I Dream a Highway" is a duet that narrates a couple's resilient relationship during the Dustbowl era and set to the music of folk artist Gillian Welch. Friendship, tragedy and survival inform the final piece, "Girl Falling Towards the Sky," which celebrates the lives of three women close to Johnson. One woman, a former student, survived an 80-foot fall, and the other two battled Hodgkin's disease. Only one survived.

In early February Johnson will return to St. Olaf for nine days to choreograph an arrangement featuring six dancers selected from St. Olaf's dance company, Companydance. The piece will preview at the Spring Concert in May.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.